Fright Night Film Fest Report

Fright Night Film Fest Report
July 30 – August 1 2010
Inn Place Hotel Louisville, KY
Report by: Maggie Roberge

(NOTE: not the official poster, but that is bad ass!)

This year’s Fright Night Film Fest in Louisville, KY was a plethora of pleasures! There were all sorts of wonderful vendors from all over, selling all sorts of horror goods, from movie merchandise, to their own hand-made creations. There were plenty of people walking around in amazing costumes as well, so photo opportunities were everywhere, despite the unfortunate loss of air conditioning. All the celebrities were really nice and friendly to their fans. One of the principle celebrity guests who were in attendance was Roger Corman. Mr. Corman was being honored with a Lifetime Achievement Award for all his work as a director, producer and actor in films such as Little Shop of Horrors (1960) with Jack Nicholson, Dementia 13 (1963), and Silence of the Lambs (1991). Mr. Corman signed autographs in his own separate room, and had a wonderful turn-out of fans.

Other big names who attended were the three Nightmare on Elm Street ladies, Heather Langenkamp (Nancy Thompson, the original NOES, NOES 3: Dream Warriors, herself/Nancy, Wes Craven’s New Nightmare), Amanda Wyss (Tina, original NOES, Beth Truss, Better Off Dead), and Lisa Wilcox (Alice Johnson, NOES 4: Dream Master, NOES 5: Dream Child), Tyler Mane (Michael Myers, Halloween 2007, Sabretooth, X-Men), and Ari Lehman (Jason Voorhees, original Friday the 13th). All the celebrities enjoyed a lot of attention from fans. Aside from signing autographs, there were Q and A panels where fans could ask their favorite stars about their movies and other things.

Ari Lehman played 3 separate concerts on Friday and Saturday. On Friday he played at Zombiestock, a big event for a zombie movie by Feather Italian Films before the convention officially started, and later at the Masquerade Ball, where he also announced the contestants and winners. On Saturday he rocked out at the Georgetown Drive-in, a real drive-in movie theater in Indiana. He played up on the roof of the concession stand, to a crowd of excited fans, with yours truly dancing next to him in full “Jasonette” regalia. Afterwards, all the celebrities arrived to sit and sign autographs for the multitude of fans, and enjoy sampling the deep fried, red velvet twinkies.

There were also various cast reunions as well, for Dawn of the Dead, Night of the Creeps, and Fright Night. Two of the principle zombies from Dawn of the Dead were there, Mike Christopher (the Hare Krishna zombie) and Leonard Lies (Machete zombie), as well as David Crawford (Dr. Foster). On Saturday, Mike even walked around in full Hare Krishna costume for the fans. The stars of Fright Night were also a really big draw for fans. William Ragsdale, Amanda Bearse, Stephen Geoffreys and Chris Sarandon were all there. Mr. Sarandon had the longest line, and even needed his own room to sign things in.

There were a number of excellent artists selling prints and original drawings at the Artist Alley. One of the main artists who came was Jason Craig, artist for the very popular Freddy vs. Jason vs. Ash series. It was truly a pleasure to meet him. Joel Robinson was another popular artist. He and Jason both helped with poster art for the convention. Georges Geanty, artist for the Buffy the Vampire Slayer comics made an appearance too.

All day Friday and Saturday independent horror movies were being shown as part of the festivities. One excellent film that was shown was Girl Number Three, directed by Herschel Zahnd, based on a graphic novella created by Nathan Thomas Milliner and starring Julie Streble. Girl Number Three is a revenge story about a college student named Max (Julie Streble) who’s kidnapped on Halloween along with 9 other girls. By a series of fortunate circumstances, she breaks free and takes vengeance on her captors and helps free the other girls. Girl Number Three was filmed in Kentucky and Indiana, and is DEFINITELY worth a watch.

Fright Night Film Fest is a wonderful convention, with a friendly atmosphere, and just generally fun times all around. I HIGHLY recommend attending this convention if you can make it out to Kentucky. I’d like to extend a big thank you to Ken and Myra Daniels for a wonderful convention, as well as lots of love to Nathan Thomas Milliner, Herschel Zahnd, and their friends and families for taking such good care of me during my stay. I truly hope that I can attend next year, and that all the horror fans out there will make it out to Louisville for future Fright Night Film Fests.